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This Day in History

Mar 19, 2017

What's been on my mind lately? The fact that it seems a tornado has made it's way through my craft room. Some of you *know* what I mean... barely being able to walk through it, or having a path to the areas you access most. Don't try denying it... you know, I know. ::sigh:: The struggle is real!When I first moved to The Homestead, it was a junk storage room for all the things I couldn't figure out what to do with. In looking back at THIS post, it's interesting to see what things I've gotten rid of and what things are still in the room. One would've thought I'd have blogged about it after I cleaned it and showed photos of a clean room, but nooooo. So, you'll have to take my word for it. I did have an organized craft room with a remodeled closet where I added removable shelves on one side. The closet needs destashing. Shhhh! Don't tell anyone. I'm saving that for another time.I think gremlins go into my craft room when I'm not looking and wreak havoc which is why it ends up looking like this:

See that white box in the lower right corner? I've been looking for the contents in the box for a very long time. I thought the box was in the attic!

As you can see, the closet is still relatively clean and organized.

Seriously, there's a desk back there... somewhere!

My poor treadle machine...

I pushed, pulled, and dragged (Do I sound like a used car commercial?) everything into my dining room with the exception of the filing cabinets, armoire, and desk.

I have framed stitching hung on walls throughout my house, but I still had quite a few sitting in a bin. So, first things first... I made a stitching wall.

If you've been a long time reader, you probably recognize all of them.

I put a bulletin board above the desk to display smalls. With the exception of the hummingbird bookmark, the rest were exchanges from other stitchers. I'm debating whether to paint the frame to match the filing cabinets. What do you think?

I told you there was a desk! My Dad made that shelf for me when I was a teenager in the mid 1980's. It's hung in every place I lived since I left home.

I've had the desk for about 25 years. Originally, it was a golden rod yellow. I repainted it, added new pulls, and a glass top around 2002-2003. Now that it's clean, I can use it to sew on instead of dragging my machine to the dining room. The sewing machine is in the closet behind the curtain. If you scroll back up, you can see it peeking around the curtain.

The filing cabinet area needs a bit more organization, but looks better than it did. Now that the floor is clean, I can open the drawers without shoving things out of the way, lol. My filing cabinet makeover HERE is the most visited post I've ever written with over 17,000 views!

How many remember when I found the armoire at a thrift store? After replacing a couple broken pulls, I filled it with most of my stash. You can see more photos HERE. I need to destash this area a bit more, too.

And, here's the treadle sewing machine! I still need to put the curtains up, and want to put a peg board on the wall above the treadle. The plan is to hang the thread/ribbon rack on it along with all my crafty gadgets.

I still have several boxes in the dining room that I need to figure out what to do with, and 3 boxes that will be donated to the thrift store.

I just love your craft room Meari! I am also very jealous as my craft room has to double as a guest room. What a great job you did re-organizing. I love the idea of the cork-board to fill with small exchanges. I say paint the frame to match the filing cabinets...it will really bring out whatever to hang on it.

If you have some spare time, how about a trip to PA to organize my small craft/spare bed room?

Yes, paint the cork board to match the filing cabinets. And while you have the paint out, paint the all white filing cabinet to match the blue & white ones. It's looking great! Mine is not useable - let me know when you are ready to come to Phoenix and tackle it too! Judi in Phoenix

I like leaving the bulletin board all the same color. The smaller needlework items will cover the edges. You don't "see" the empty space between pieces. If the edges are are a different color, than that attracts your attention, not just the needlework.

You've been working on this room for a long time and all I can say is that you've done a fantastic job on it! I know there's more you want to do but I think you can take a moment and rest on your laurels and think about what you've accomplished and then go on from there. The little touches can be taken care of after all is done! Who knows...you might change your mind several times about that bulletin board!

Great work! We've been working here and there to get cabinets spring cleaned. Today I did our pasta cabinet. Got rid of the old things and stacked the stuff better. It had become a scary thing to reach and pull something out and wonder what was going to hit you and where haha. Slowly but surely it's looking better.

I am glad you were able to clean up your craft room and it looks more organized now. Wish I had a craft room but living in an apartment does not help as every little space has to be used for something besides crafts.

Well done with sorting out your 'craft room' Meari. Mine is in the same state as yours was. My resoluntion for lent was to try and put something away every day thinking that that would make some sort of improvement. Well it has to a point but then it all has to go somewhere else so now I have a mess in all the rooms as I try and sort it all out. Like you I am sure that I will get there but certainly not in one day.

Must be something in the air with all this sorting out of our goodies.

Dunno about everybody else, but it has made me take a good look at how much stuff I have parted with, and how much I still have left. Granted at one time, in the days before I knew better, I only bought Aida, or on a good day the 27 count Linda. Now if given the choice I would choose linen above everything else.

You made great progress in your room and it looks awesome! As for me and my crafty area, well, ummmm, it's way way worse than yours and will take forever just to find my way into the room. I wish I could say it's all crafty stuff, but it's also the junk and stuff that other family members have decided could be stored there.

My craft room is also my office, and before I retired earlier this year, it was an awful mess. It had become a storage space for everything we didn't want in our basement storage locker (we live in a condo). Within a week after retiring, I went through and cleaned everything up. We still don't have room in the basement for anything more, but what's upstairs is much, much neater. I use gorilla racks and plastic bins to keep things tidy.

You did an awesome job on your craft room. It must feel glorious to have some elbow room. I think I'd paint the cork board. When you give something a frame like that (as painting would do), you draw attention to what's in the frame.

Craft room looks great. The before pictures made my chest tight lol. I posted pictures of my tiny room a post or two back. Moving across the US every 4 years on average helps with decluttering, but I don't really recommend it.

Wow you have been working very hard and its shows I know because I am living with your before and I have to do it! I don't want my kids to have to do it. I am still cleaning out my Dads cellar it will be 4 years the end of June. Your photos are helping to motivate me. I will be looking at them often.

Wow, you have done really well. How long did it take you? I'm trying to get mine done bit by bit - working on destashing first which is taking forever ;-) The fact that it's in 2 rooms plus the loft doesn't help!!

The bulletin board would look good painted to match the filing cabinet. Great idea to display the smalls there.

Love the way you finished the stitcher' s sampler.

We actually have apay phone about 5 minutes walk from our house. Not sure when I last saw it being used though.

Wow, you really made that room "workable". That has inspired me to get our extra bonus room (smallish room with no closet) in order. It hold lots of my crafts as well as my husbands stuff lke computer table, computer and all his CD's/

Awesome craft room, Meari! So tidy and organized, with everything at your fingertips, and a designated sewing desk, by a window! Your stitching wall is the icing on the cake. This is a cheerful room one can spend a lot of quality time in!

Gosh !!! you have really improved your space. Bet you can find anything you need now that you have reorganized. It is lovely. I don't have a craft room but could and should work on my closet. I just need some pep pills to add to your motivation, Meari. LOL